Extinction and Radiation: How the Fall of Dinosaurs Led to the Rise of Mammals

Extinction and Radiation: How the Fall of Dinosaurs Led to the Rise of Mammals

by J. David Archibald

Baltimore (MD): The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011. 120 pages.

In Extinction and Radiation, according to reviewer P. David Polly, it is argued that “the patterns of extinction and survival through the Late Cretaceous and early Paleogene differed among groups of organisms, some of which died off prior to the collision and some of which were unaffected. These patterns thus cannot be entirely explained by a sudden impact. The asteroid impact was more of a coincidence than a trigger.” Polly praises Archibald’s careful and detailed review of the “strengths, weaknesses, and limitations” of the contending explanations as “a highly recommendable example of the scientific process.”